We'd love to,but we can't travel everywhere.Or we manage to,just to wander around.
Sitting in front of computer along with my brother and making plan for an international journey or an adventurous indian one,yet cheap was on our list.We noted down a few places we had in our mind:
1)Andamans/Lakshwadeep by ship
2)Thailand by Air Asia
3)Malaysia by Air Asia
4)Nepal by road
We were puzzled.Puzzled to the extent that we googled every possible keyword on cheap + travel option.Andamans by ship was exciting and new,though it was all rains and droptlets at Andamans.The best season is Jan-Mar.The last thing we wanted was to get ourselves drenched or flooded in Indian ship bunkers.Besides I had already been to Andamans once.Thailand was equally promising,though I had already availed the Bangkok + Pattaya option before.Malaysia by Air Asia,not bad.But travel in Malaysia is expensive ,at least Langkawi is,which I was more interested in.Nepal,is on my to do list.
On Why Bhutan?
The call of the mountain did not wait any longer when I told my brother "Bhutan,its so near to India,must be cheap!"
Google "Bhutan" and you find the packages that were expensive to our standards,well not as expensive as Maldives,Europe or US but not as cheap as Thailand.Truth is,if you are out to experience International and if you are comfortable by road,there is no better alternative than Bhutan for Indians.In some ways it's similar to Ladakh and Sikkim,but different as its more developed and clean.It's even cheaper than Thailand in some ways,no airfare cost,the travel by public transport is cheap,the currency equivalent,no language problem,and it's squeaky clean and well maintained.
Downside is :
1)Shopping is unbearably expensive(clothes,jewellery,artifacts)
2)Roaming charges are very high.We chose to use a local sim for our calls
3)There isn't much information on Internet.
Advantage is
1)In case,you are sick or ill during your travel,you can contact the Indian Army Representatives at Thimpu.There is a general hospital run in the army premises,the staff is very helpful ,the doctors excellent and they treat the Bhutanese locals as well as Indians.
2)The trek to Tiger's Nest is worth the 2.5 hours uphill and once in a lifetime experience.
3)You get to see a strange animal called Takin,which is also a national animal of Bhutan.
Let me take you through different aspects of Bhutan through my video and the write up in the next post.Till then stay happy,we are entering into one of the world's happiest country soon :)
